Julith said, 'presented to a High Moonmistress over three hundred years ago by a worshipful devotee. When the vials are replaced in the case and the case placed in moonlight, the potions regenerate themselves with the turning of the moon.'
'What do they do?' asked Feena.
'Tonight, they'll help us outwit Mifano and Velsinore.' She held out her free hand. 'I need three strands of your hair. Wrap them around my finger.'
Feena reached up and plucked at her scalp, then twisted fine red hairs around one of Julith's fingers like a delicate ring, carefully knotting the ends so they wouldn't come free,
'Now,' said Julith, 'you take the potion on the right. I take the potion on the left. We drink them at the same time.'
Keph watched the two priestesses slide the vials free of the case and open them carefully. Feena's nose wrinkled.
'It smells like sugared almonds.'
Julith just smiled and counted to three. She and Feena lifted the vials and drank their contents at the same moment.
A slight shimmer passed over both of them. When it faded, Julith wore Feena's face and long red hair spilled down her back. The country clothes no longer hung loose on her. Keph couldn't tell if it was just an illusion or a true transformation, but if he hadn't seen it happen, he certainly wouldn't have known the woman tucking the vial back into the silver case wasn't Feena.
Feena, however, was still herself.
She frowned and said, 'Nothing happened to me.'
'Nothing you can see,' answered Julith. She might have looked like Feena, but the younger priestess's voice was still her own. 'But until the potions wear off, only the most powerful divination magic can locate you. When Velsinore and Mifano try to find you, their magic will find me instead.' She smiled as she took Feena's vial from her and replaced it in the case, then put the case back in her satchel. 'Iraelathe's Escapeto sight and magic, one person takes the place of another.'
'What if they've already found Feena?' Keph asked. 'You said they were already on their way.'
'At best the trail will lead them to this field. I'll ride from herethe trail they follow will be mine and I'll lead them a merry chase.' Julith gave Feena a brief hug and said, 'Selune watch over you, sister.'
'Selune watch over you.'
Feena stepped back. Julith pressed a hand to her tired horse's heaving side and murmured a prayer. Light flickered around her hand and the horse shivered, standing tall with renewed energy. Julith swung up into her saddle.
And what, asked a small voice inside Keph, are you going to do? He swallowed, and urged his horse forward.
'I'm going with you, Julith.'
Both Julith and Feena looked at him sharply.
'You don't have to do that, Keph,' Feena said. 'Velsinore and Mifano aren't looking for you.'
'They might be,' Keph said firmly. 'We've been traveling together since Yhaunn. If their magic shows that, won't it look odd if we separate now?'
Julith frowned and said, 'He's right.'
Feena grimaced.
'All right then.' She stepped up to Keph's horse and put her hand on his leg. 'We'll meet again, Keph. May Selune favor you until we do.'
The blessing pulled at him. He clenched his teeth against tears and gave Feena only a brisk nod of farewell. The priestess moved away.
'Keep hold of your horses,' she warnedthen shook herself.
Her transformation was at once both terrifying and awe-inspiring, beautiful woman flowing smoothly into powerful wolf. Keph's horse shied. back at the sudden appearance of the predator. He couldn't blame the animal. Even though he had been expecting it, the wolfs appearance struck a primal fear in him as well.
'Easy,' he whispered to the horse, 'easy.' He might as well have been whispering to himself.
Feena gave one sharp yip, caught the strap around Julith's gray bundle in her mouth, then turned and surged off through the grain, across the field and back toward Yhaunn.
Julith looked to Keph and said, 'This is your last chance. If you want to go your own way, I won't tell Feena.'
Keph shook his head. 'I've run away once tonight. I think that's enough.'
Wolf legs devoured ground. Muscles bunched and stretched, driving her across the countryside parallel to the Ordulin road. Feena ran as she had seldom run before, not out of joy or fear, but out of pure desperation.
Hedgerows flashed past. All of the small creatures that she had heard from the road, she smelled as she passed in the fields. Where they had rustled with the passing of humans, however, they froze with the lightning- swift passing of the wolf. Feena put them out of her mind, put all thoughts out of her mind, and simply ran.
Until she heard the sound of hooves on the road. A great number of hooves. She froze immediately and crouched down behind the hedgerow. A tiny gap in the tightly woven branches gave her a view onto a short section of the road beyond. The sound of hooves drew closer and closer, growing to thunderous volume.
And suddenly her view of the road was filled with riders. Feena caught a brief glimpse of Velsinore and Mifano in the lead, both of them following a flickering blue ball of crackling energy. Other riders followed them: half a dozen, a full dozen… twenty, easily. Feena drew back her lips. Velsinore and Mifano must have emptied Moonshadow Hall to carry out their pursuit. There couldn't have been more than novices, untested acolytes, and a scant handful of old priestesses left in the temple.
Moonlight shone bright around the entire party, strong enough to cast shadows beyond the hedgerows.
More than that, the hooves of the galloping horses shimmered silver when they touched the ground. Some magic sustained the animals, lending them speed and strength. Feena spared a prayer for Julith and Keph. Their lead over their pursuers wouldn't last for long.
As abruptly as they had appeared, the riders were gone, past her hiding spot and on down the road. Feena leaped back to her feet and resumed her pace. How much farther? How long had she and Keph walked? How long had they sat and talked?
The eastern horizon was purple-gray when the crops in the fields thinned and vanished. The walls of Yhaunn rose ahead. Out on the road, farmers and merchants were already beginning to move in and out of the city gates. Feena didn't bother looking for a particularly sheltered place to change. She made her transformation crouched in the shadow of a bush, hastily donning the bundled robe Julith had given her. The robe had a cowl. She pulled it up.
Grat and his partner were still on duty, though it seemed they were paying less attention to the travelers passing through the gates than they were to gossiping about the night that the clergy of Moonshadow Hall had apparently gone mad. Feena kept her head down and hurried past in the shadow of a wagon piled high with casks.
Julith hadn't thought to include sandals with the robe. Feena walked barefoot through the slowly stirring streets of Yhaunn. After so long in the dark, the light of torches and lanterns seemed harsh to her eyes. She darted from shadow to shadow, moving like a thief. Her muscles ached and trembled from the long walk, followed by the long run. She yearned to find a bed or even a dark corner to curl up in.
She couldn't. Dhauna Myritar needed her.
When she came within sight of Moonshadow Hall, Feena paused and bit her lip in thought. How was she going to get back into the temple? Even with most of the clergy out following Mifano and Velsinore, Idruth and her kitchen staff would be at work. Going over the kitchen wall was out of the question. The front gates were kept closed overnight, and though they were never locked, they would be guarded. Feena drew a sharp breath. If she had to use her magic against another acolyte, so be it.
For once, it seemed, fortune was with her. When she eased open one of the gates and peered through, she discovered the acolyte on dutya girl even younger than Jhezzailcrouched against a wall inside. Her head was down on her chest and she was sound asleep. Feena slipped through the gate, drew it closed, and padded into the
